She turned in her seat to have a look at the monster. Lisha had never been camping a day in her life. Not if you didn’t count the times they’d had to live out in the open when they’d not had the money to get home. Lisha asked him what they were supposed to do with this thing since neither of them knew the first thing about camping.
“Lisha, honey, you wait until you see the inside of this thing. It’s a fucking mansion. And I did us right by it, too. I did steal it, yes, I’ll tell you that. And the truck. But the truck was out on the lot running and there wasn’t a soul around. I tell you, I drove it round for about two hours before I went back to the mall.” She asked him if that was where he got it. “I got the plates at the mall. And I was pretty smart about it too. I took the plates off the back of one that looked like it could be this one’s twin. And the camper, it had plates already. It was just sitting there in front of this big pretty house. I did the same thing with it. Found me one that looked just like it and swapped out the plates for it. Lisha, I couldn’t have gotten us a better ride either.”
When he finally pulled over, she was almost too excited to join him. Getting out of the truck had been easier, but she still bumped her knee badly. Lisha thought even if the place was a dump inside and nothing worked, she was so glad to see Jimmy excited and moving around that she would have stolen it herself.
Once he had the door opened up for her, stairs for her to get in just slid out like they were on some kind of machine. Jimmy told her that they were, and that was only the beginning. Once she was inside, Lisha just stared at it all. It was beautiful. So very beautiful.
“There are two bedrooms in this sucker. One in the back that you and me can use, and one in the front so if I’m feeling poorly I can move in there. The bathroom is bigger than ours was at home, and look at this, Lisha. I’m telling you, I hit the jackpot.” He opened the door to a little place, and it was filled with food. “We can eat off this for some time, if we’re careful.”
There were luncheon meats and cheeses. Milk and eggs. Bacon and sausage, and those pop open biscuits. She touched the yogurts that were lined up, along with several bottles of water. When she opened the freezer part next to it, there was enough food in that to last them an entire month if they were careful with it.
She moved to the back of the camper, opening closets and other places as she passed. There was a bathroom with a shower in it, a toilet, as well as a pretty set of towels that were folded up and put in a cubby hole. Lisha felt like she was in a dream. All this, and it was theirs to use.
“I’m thinking that the people might have been leaving for someplace far away, and that’s why it’s ready to go like this. There are clothes in there too that you can wear. Not me; nothing that little for me.” Yes, Lisha had forgotten how much weight he’d lost over the last few weeks. “And this will be fun for us. We can pull up in Ohio and find Rogen in style now.”
“How did you know how to hook things up like this? I mean, it looks like you’d have to be pretty strong or something.” She felt concerned that he’d taken it to the people and asked them how to hook up his stolen camper. Then he sat down at the little table like he was exhausted. “Jimmy, you didn’t hurt yourself, did you?”
“No, but being this excited, it does take a lot out of me. Lisha, honey, you’re bleeding.” He got up again after making her have a seat. It was a bad cut, she saw, and might need some stitches. She asked him what to do. “Well, if it doesn’t get any better in a couple of days, I’ll take you to some kind of clinic and have them fix you up. But I think between the two of us, we can get you bandaged up. Don’t you?”
“I do. Thank you.” While he worked on her wound, they talked about the things that he’d discovered in the big rig, he called it. “We might be able to do this, honey. Don’t you think?”
“I do. And I’m going to find us a nice place to pull in, and we’ll sleep good tonight. I’ve been up all night, so I think I could sleep for a week, but this will be good for us both. When I get tired, I can just pull over, snooze in the back for a while, and move on. We’ll make good time, you’ll see.” When he put the first aid kit b
ack, he brought up something else he’d found. “It looks like one of those bank bags. Holy Moses, Lisha, what do you think is in it?”
It was huge and heavy, so she had to find herself a sharp knife to get it open. There was a lock on it, but she wasn’t able to pick it. And while she was getting the knife, Jimmy worked on it and got it open. Lisha had been afraid that it was going to pop out some kind of blue shit, but all it did was spill money all over the table.
“There must be hundreds of dollars here.”
Nodding to Jimmy, she asked him if he could write down numbers and she’d count them. She did know her numbers and counted out to ten wrapped stacks. Then she had Jimmy add up the numbers so they could tell. There were twenties and tens and a lot of hundreds in the bag. Also ones, but only about two wrappers of those.
“Okay, I’m going to tell you what we have and then I’ll add them up.” The numbers that she’d given him were written in huge lettering. Lisha carefully told him the count that she had for each kind of money. When he had them, he started multiplying the bill times the amount that they had. She got up to check out the food in the big freezer.
There were steaks and roasts. Red meat was something that they didn’t have a great deal of. There were frozen loaves of bread and rolls. Also some frozen fruit. The fridge was filled with things like the meats and cheeses that she’d seen before, but also salad fixings, small bottles of orange juice, and grape juice. When Jimmy cursed, she just knew that the money was all fake.
“There is almost a million dollars here, Lisha. Nine hundred and five thousand, four hundred. We’re rich, baby. And I think this is from some kind of bank robbery or something. So you know what that means? Nobody is going to report it missing. Who in their right mind would do that? Call the police on money that they stole to report it stolen? No one. We’ll be all right now.” She hugged him and he hugged her back. “But we have to keep moving. And stay in cheap camping places. Get gas not on the highway, but in a town.”
They decided to rest there for the day. And after eating a nice breakfast of eggs and bacon with toast, she cleaned up the kitchen and even did the dishes. This was new, it was theirs, and she wasn’t going to have it looking like their home had. Not this place.
Lying down in the other bed, Lisha thought about the things that she was going to say to her daughter. But then she realized that with this money, they’d not have to go and see her. Lisha was all for that. She didn’t much care for Rogen and was certain that she didn’t like her any better. It wasn’t really that, she supposed. Lisha was afraid that Rogen would spit in her face. And that would hurt. When he woke up, she’d talk to Jimmy about it and try and talk him into going someplace that was warm all the time.
Closing her eyes, she felt safe and comfortable. There were things that she could do, she supposed, but right now all she wanted to do was rest and not worry. She thought of some of the things they should get, things that would make camping even better, but only thought about them. Jimmy made most of the decisions about money, and she wasn’t going to change that now that they had a bit.
A house, her mind wandered over. A nice little house in a place that they’d not have to worry about the fucking neighbors. They’d had the worst living where they had been. Meddlesome and mean, they would call the police on them all the time about the trash in the yard. The way the lawn wasn’t mowed. She didn’t know how to do it, and Jimmy was ill. Why didn’t they just do it themselves? Fuckers.
Letting sleep take her, she wondered briefly where Jamie was. Had Rogen finally tossed him to the side of the road? No, she’d not do that. She loved the little creep. She wondered if he was still alive. That would have been the way she’d have gotten rid of him, if Rogen hadn’t stepped in. Christ, that kid was a pain in the ass. But Lisha would love for her to see her in this camper. Just to show off to her that her parents were not deadbeats, as she’d called them before leaving home.
Chapter 6
Thatcher watched her sleep. They’d made love until neither of them could move this morning, and he’d never felt so in love as he did right at this moment. When she opened her eyes and smiled at him, Thatcher revised his last thought. Now he was as happy as he’d ever been.
“You wore me out.” He laughed and told her that he was thinking the same thing. “I don’t suppose you’d like to wear me out again, would you? I don’t want to force you—”
Thatcher picked her up and put her over his lap; his cock was in heaven and so was he. Her laughter made him laugh too. She was such a delight in anything they did together.
The way she was sitting on him, he thought he could live out the rest of his days like this. When she sat up slightly and guided him into her, Thatcher moaned. Christ, she was fucking perfect.
“Last night when you took me this way, all I could think about was your tiger and the way that he must take his mate.” She rode him slowly, taking her time with her needs. “Then when you bit me on the shoulder, all I could think about was how hard I came, the way stars and tiny tigers danced around my head. Do you have any idea how wonderful it feels to have you so deep inside of me that I can almost swallow you?”